Pappa to Heerenveen in January

After months of speculation it's finally official. Marco Pappa has signed a pre-contract with SC Heerenveen and will join the Dutch club when his MLS contract expires at the end of the year. Pappa, who is currently third among all-time leading Fire goal scorers is one of the more talented wide players in MLS and will now get an opportunity to play for a club participating in the Europa League. SC Heerenveen has earned a third round qualifying spot in the 2012/13 tournament.

Pappa's contract is for 3.5 years and the Fire have retained his MLS rights should he return stateside. This is a case where both the club and the player handled the transaction and discussion with class and respect. The Fire attempted to extend his contract beyond this season but Pappa made it clear that he wanted to try a Euro move while he had the opportunity. The move is a good one for Pappa, whose style of play should fit well in Holland but from the organization's standpoint it's always difficult to lose important players. The club did extremely well to land Alvaro Fernandez as a potential replacement for Pappa's production thereby making the loss a bit easier to accept.

Pappa has had some ups and downs during his stay in Chicago, as most young players do but there's no denying his quality when he's playing well, which has been the case for most of this season. It's a good sign for the Fire and MLS that successful European clubs continue to show interest in quality players like Marco Pappa.

i actually have to disagree with you on the outside position for next season. after nyarko and fernandez who esle do we have to play outside that can be effective? i think we will need to add depth at almost every position next season. we wo't have a CAM thats creative to start next season, outside mids we will have nyarko, fernandez, and............., in the d we should be okay on the outside but in the center we have gibbs(coming off an injury), anibaba, and berry, and up top we should be okay. to me this sounds like we need to add at least 2 mids, and 1 CB. just my thinking.

They'll have at least two international spots open to fill those needs. There are always going to be additions/subtractions that need to be addressed during the offseason. Depth is one thing but my point was theyll have reliable starters at those positions. Center attacking mids are very difficult to find in MLS.

You can never say never. Rolfe came back. We championed for it on this site and a few others, and he's back. So... I eat crow here. Thank you Chicago Fire. (See how a couple wins and Leon opening up changes everything?)

Perhaps, but it still seems that Klopas isn't going to go w/o two DM's in the center, in addition to the fact that neither Pardo nor Pause are able to hold down the DM position alone. I would think Paladini would get the start, or Videira, if Klopas is looking to give him another shot on the pitch.

It would be good to see one of those two out there. Pardo is 36 and slowing down, and at 30, Pause is going to be more injury prone than he has been (one of his big plusses is his durability). If Frank is going to insist on 2 DMs, then he's going to have to give these guys some time at some point. We're clicking now as a team, and New England is as good a team to give them a runout with as any (save maybe Toronto or Philly who we've just played, or Dallas or Chivas who we're not playing as Western teams for the rest of the regular season - OK, we're not playing them again this season regardless!).

That's pretty cool that Rolfe rode back in the rental van with Pause since he couldn't fly back. I think that his performance both on the field and as a teammate on his return from the grand stage in Europe, coupled with that of Sega bodes well for the Fire's decision to hold on to Potato's rights after he goes to Holland. I wish him all the luck in the world, but would happily welcome him back down the road.